Bio

Aga Łuczakowska is a documentary photographer based in Katowice, Poland. Her work explores memory, identity, and the quiet transformations of everyday life. She began as a staff photographer for a local newspaper before moving into international assignments and long-term projects.

She has lived and worked in Istanbul and Bucharest, collaborating with NGOs such as Ovidiu Rom, Biblionet, and Save the Children, as well as agencies like Bloomberg News. She has participated in masterclasses with Stanley Greene (NOOR), Christopher Morris (VII), and Gerd Ludwig (National Geographic).

After years abroad, she returned to Poland to support her family through serious health challenges—a period that shifted her storytelling perspective. Alongside photography, she works as an IT project management consultant while continuing to develop personal documentary projects.

Artist Statement

I see photography as a way to preserve memory and invite questions rather than provide answers. I value images that carry imperfections and a sense of the primitive—qualities that hold emotional truth. This perspective was shaped by my time learning from Stanley Greene (NOOR), whose work showed me that the strongest photographs often reveal less, leaving space for the viewer’s imagination.

In my New York Times Lens Blog interview, I spoke about Greene’s “Sketch in the Sand, Sudan,” a crime scene without blood that offered more questions than conclusions. That encounter reshaped my approach after years working as a photojournalist, where published photographs were expected to answer every question—who, when, where. I have since let go of that need for complete clarity, choosing instead to leave more room for the viewer’s imagination.

My work focuses on long-term documentary projects exploring memory, identity, and the transformations of everyday life—images that hold both truth and mystery, serving as invitations rather than conclusions.

Publications

The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Moscow Times (Russia), Dziennik Zachodni (Poland), Dziennik (Poland), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Rzeczpospolita (Poland), Gaste (Turkey), Večernji list (Croatia), Polityka (Poland), Tygodnik Powszechny (Poland), Večernji list Magazine (Croatia), Slask (Silesia Magazine), Biuletyn Fotograficzny, National Geographic Magazine (International Edition), National Geographic Magazine Polska (Poland), Revu (Netherlands), Saudi Aramco World, Vision Magazine (China), Historia Slaska według Kazimierza Kutza, pp. 87,  The New York Times Lens Blog, Burn, Subtitled Magazine, 5klatek